The End of Innocence

I am in no position to declare it for everyone, but I am convinced by the evidence before me that we are experiencing the end of innocence.  The gradual mainstreaming of adult-child sex, once unthinkable, is becoming acceptable in America.  How?  Beginning with Mary Kay Letourneau and followed by hundreds of cases from every part of the country, teacher-student sexual activity is now epidemic.  It seems that  more and more voices are calling for the decriminalization of sexual conduct between adults and minors. In one study there were 225 cases of teacher-student sex in New York.  Additionally, 159  coaches from the state of Washington were reprimanded for sexual misconduct.  A 2004 study shows that many school districts are making confidential agreements with abusers who agree to quietly resign.*  The "non-victimized" teen male leads the parade of double standards.  He is seen as a conquering male, not a victim of innocence theft.

Bruce Hornsby has written a masterful song that woefully laments the end of innocence.  His song raises many questions and offers a vagueness that requires your own imagination. Yet, his lyrics are painfully clear that the root of this epidemic which robs our children's innocence is in the home.
Remember when the days were long and rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn’t have a care in the world with mommy and daddy standin’ by
But happily ever after fails and we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers dwell on small details since daddy had to fly

I do not believe marriages that last “happily ever after" are the fairy tales by which we have been poisoned, but rather the idea that happiness is now found outside of marital faithfulness. I also believe that we have been poisoned by the fairy tale called the sexual revolution.  It's the strangest revolution I've ever studied.  All the rebels not only shoot their compatriots, but they shoot themselves as well.  They never lay siege on the real problem as they run rampant changing the definition of freedom into license, all the while calling it a revolution. 

Hornsby's song suggest we offer up our best defense. What is our best defense?  Get whatever help you can find and stay at the marriage until “happily ever after” returns.  It has proven to come back rather quickly to those who refuse to throw away their hope.  Show your kids that you've not been poisoned by a fairy tale, but invigorated by a dream that can still come true.

We must mount a defense against the madness of sexual perversion. We must put an end to our passivity with our leaders and demand that they are responsible partners with parents in the protection of the innocence of children.  They must adopt a creed similar to the Hippocratic Oath, "First, do no harm!"  Demand more of leaders who want to tolerate those who strip children of their innocence. Start by demanding tougher sentencing for child predators, and let’s not forget that female teachers who groom young boys and girls for sex are predators, not mentors.

Hornsby's lyrics wishfully claim, "I know a place we can go and wash away this sin.”  I have good news.  There is a place where sin can be washed away.  There are too many places where sin can be hidden, justified, excused and even encouraged, but only one where they can be washed away.  That place is at the foot of an old and rugged cross and the blood of Jesus has the power to wash the vilest sin and restore the sweetest innocence.

This is no fairy tale!
Ed Litton

*What's Behind Today's Epidemic of Teacher-Student Sex?  by David Kupelian, 2006, Whistleblower, March 2006.  WorldNetDaily.com  p.9

Art Work
Snap the Whip by Winslow Homer 1872
Metropolitan Museum of Art